List Spelling Errors

This Microsoft Word Help & Microsoft Word Tips page provides a simple yet useful VBA procedure compiling a list of spelling errors.

Spelling errors can be shown marked with a wavy red underline in a Word document. Several users have asked if there was a way to list all of the spelling errors in a document. The macro that follows provides a means to list all misspellings in a document sorted alphabetically or by frequency of the misspelling.

To use the macro you first need to create a Project module and Class module.

Open the Visual Basic Editor with ALT+F11.
Use the Insert menu to create a new Project module and Class module.
Rename the Class module "clsError."
You can use any name you like for the Project module. I have created a project module named "List Spelling Errors" in my Normal project.

Copy the following code into the class module:

VBA Class Script:

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Option Explicit
Private mName As String
Private mCount As Long

Public Property Get Name() As String
  Name = mName
End Property

Public Property Let Name(NewValue As String)
  mName = NewValue
End Property

Public Property Get Count() As Long
  Count = mCount
End Property

Public Property Let Count(NewValue As Long)
  mCount = NewValue
End Property

Copy the following code to the project module:

VBA Script:

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Sub SpellingErrorReportUsingClassModule()

Dim oError As clsError
Dim colErrors As Collection
Dim oSpErrors As ProofreadingErrors
Dim oSpError As Word.Range
Dim oSpErrorCnt As Integer 
Dim uniqueSPErrors As Integer 
Dim bolSortByFreq As Boolean
Dim j As Integer
Dim k As Integer
Dim l As Integer
Dim tempCount As Integer
Dim tempString As String
Dim oRng As Word.Range
Dim oTbl As Table

  Set colErrors = New Collection
  Set oSpErrors = ActiveDocument.Range.SpellingErrors

  'Set sort order
  bolSortByFreq = True
  If MsgBox("The default sort order is error freqeuncy." _
     & vbCr & "Do you want to sort errors" _
     & " alphabetically instead?", vbYesNo) = vbYes Then
     bolSortByFreq = False
  End If

  For Each oSpError In oSpErrors
    On Error Resume Next
    Set oError = colErrors(oSpError.Text)
    On Error GoTo 0
    If oError Is Nothing Then
      Set oError = New clsError
      oError.Name = oSpError.Text
      colErrors.Add oError, oError.Name
    End If
    oError.Count = oError.Count + 1
    Set oError = Nothing
  Next

  For j = 1 To colErrors.Count - 1
    k = j
    For l = j + 1 To colErrors.Count
      If (Not bolSortByFreq And colErrors(l).Name < colErrors(k).Name) _
          Or (bolSortByFreq And colErrors(l).Count > colErrors(k).Count) Then k = l
    Next l
    If k <> j Then
      tempString = colErrors(j).Name
      colErrors(j).Name = colErrors(k).Name
      colErrors(k).Name = tempString
      tempCount = colErrors(j).Count
      colErrors(j).Count = colErrors(k).Count
      colErrors(k).Count = tempCount
    End If
  Next j
  'Display Results
  oSpErrorCnt = ActiveDocument.Range.SpellingErrors.Count
  uniqueSPErrors = colErrors.Count
  Set oRng = ActiveDocument.Range
  With oRng
    .Move
    .InsertBreak wdSectionBreakNextPage
    .Select
  End With
  With Selection
    .ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll   
    For Each oError In colErrors
      .TypeText Text:=oError.Name & vbTab & oError.Count & vbCrLf
    Next
    .Sections(1).Range.Select
    .ConvertToTable
    .Collapse wdCollapseStart
  End With
  Set oTbl = Selection.Tables(1)
  With oTbl
    .Rows.Add BeforeRow:=Selection.Rows(1)
    .Cell(1, 1).Range.InsertBefore "Spelling Error"
    .Cell(1, 2).Range.InsertBefore "Number of Occurrences"
    .Columns(2).Select
  End With
  Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphRight
  Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart
  With oTbl
    .Rows(1).Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGray20
    .Columns(1).PreferredWidth = InchesToPoints(4.75)
    .Columns(2).PreferredWidth = InchesToPoints(1.9)
    .Rows.Add
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 1).Range.InsertBefore "Summary"
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 2).Range.InsertBefore "Total"
    .Rows(oTbl.Rows.Count).Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGray20
    .Rows.Add
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 1).Range.InsertBefore "Number of Unique Misspellings"
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 2).Range.InsertBefore Trim(Str(uniqueSPErrors))
    .Rows(oTbl.Rows.Count).Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorAutomatic
    .Rows.Add
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 1).Range.InsertBefore "Total Number of Spelling Errors"
    .Cell(oTbl.Rows.Count, 2).Range.InsertBefore Trim(Str(oSpErrorCnt))
  End With
  Selection.HomeKey wdStory
lbl_Exit:
  Exit Sub
End Sub

See: Installing Macros for instructions on how to set up and use the macros provided in this Microsoft Word Help & Microsoft Word Tips page.

Here is a small sample of text with some rather obvious spelling errors.

When you run the macro, a message box is displayed asking you if you want to display the results in frequency order (default) or alphabetically.

The result is displayed in a table appended section at the end of the document. Here is a screen shot of the results generated for the sample text above

That's it! I hope you have found this tips page useful and informative. You can download the demonstration document used to create this tips page here: Spelling Error Report

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List Spelling Errors(A Microsoft Word Help & Tip page by Gregory K. Maxey)

List Spelling Errors
(A Microsoft Word Help & Tip page by Gregory K. Maxey)